soundless sound system

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By TYPH TUCKER, Associated Press Writer

 

PORTLAND, Ore. - Elwood "Woody" Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter — an aluminum square — was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.

 

 

 

"There's no speaker, but when I point this pad at you, you will hear the waterfall," said the 63-year-old Californian.

 

And one by one, each person in the audience did, and smiled widely.

 

Norris' HyperSonic Sound system has won him an award coveted by inventors — the $500,000 annual Lemelson-MIT Prize. It works by sending a focused beam of sound above the range of human hearing. When it lands on you, it seems like sound is coming from inside your head.

 

Norris said the uses for the technology could come in handy — in cars, in the airport or at home.

 

"Imagine your wife wants to watch television and you want to read a book, like the intellectual you are," he said to the crowd. "Imagine you are a lifeguard or a coach and you want to yell at someone, he'll be the only one to hear you."

 

Norris holds 47 U.S. patents, including one for a digital handheld recorder and another for a handsfree headset. He said the digital recorder made him an inventor for life.

 

"That sold for $5 million," Norris laughed. "That really made me want to be an inventor."

 

He demonstrated the sound system at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, also called OMSI, on Thursday.

 

Norris began tinkering as an inventor at a young age — taking apart the family radio and putting it back together again. He said ideas come to him when he's driving around or talking with friends.

 

"I don't know how I got to be an inventor, but I guess some kids can play the piano, and I can invent."

 

Norris will receive the Lemelson-MIT Prize at a ceremony here on Friday.

 

One of his most recent patents is for the AirScooter, a personal flying machine designed for commuting. It reaches speeds up to 55 mph and is light enough — under 300 pounds — to not require a license to fly.

 

The AirScooter was also on display at OMSI, although Norris didn't fly it.

 

The machine has a single seat, a four-stroke engine and is barely 10 feet tall. Its pontoons allow it to land on water. The machine's fiberglass and aluminum construction keeps its weight down. Bike-style handle bars move two helicopter blades, which spin in opposite directions.

 

Norris' AirScooter was shown on "60 Minutes" last Sunday. He said since the airing of the show, more than 7 million people have visited the AirScooter's Web site.

 

Norris said he and his crew have tested the AirScooter for four years, and he couldn't have created the machine without a skilled group of aeronautics engineers around him.

inspirational quote

a rolling stone gathers no moss

Thats such a good idea.

DAMN! Why didnt i think of that?

i invented the intraweb.

I invented the showtime rotisserie but that faggot ron popeil took it from me, i chased him for some twenty odd miles but that rascal managed to slip away!

"set it and forget it" That was my shit! Ron you stole from me!

I've been hearing about hypersonic sound systems for years now, and this guy actually makes one and makes alot of money....

hmmm.....

i want to patent a "page button" on the TV remote..

someone told me it was already pateneted... but i think they were lying and stole my idea.

reguardless, it'd would be great. if there's one for cordless phones, why not tv remotes?

Originally posted by villain@Apr 25 2005, 09:23 PM

I've been hearing about hypersonic sound systems for years now, and this guy actually makes one and makes alot of money....

hmmm.....

Quoted post

is hypersonic sound what i've been hearing about for a while, too? the brown note and government control through sound waves, etc?

mythbusters did a segment on the infamous "brown note" and also a little reaserch into the whole "mind control with sound" theory. they couldn't confirm anything.

Originally posted by villain@Apr 25 2005, 09:23 PM

I've been hearing about hypersonic sound systems for years now, and this guy actually makes one and makes alot of money....

hmmm.....

Quoted post

I remember hearing about another one they were working on at MIT, probably about 7 years ago, that involved two servo driven emitters above the range of human hearing. One emitted a wave with the sound that was to be heard "encoded" in it, and the other one emitted a wave that was more or less the exact opposite of the high frequency portions of the first wave, so that at whatever point in the room the two collided, the sound would originate from. I don't know if they ever did anything with that, but that would be the ultimate surround sound system.

It isn't mind control with sound that I'd be worried about, it would be somebody building an extremely high powered emitter that was making a constant shrieking noise at the equivalent loudness of a jet engine from 3 feet away, and then deciding that they wanted to point it at you.

Originally posted by saraday@Apr 25 2005, 09:27 PM

is hypersonic sound what i've been hearing about for a while, too? the brown note and government control through sound waves, etc?

 

mythbusters did a segment on the infamous "brown note" and also a little reaserch into the whole "mind control with sound" theory. they couldn't confirm anything.

Quoted post

Brown note? Wasn't that on south park? The sound that made everyone shit their pants? :haha:

As far as I know there is no government mind control program involving sound. That's more in the realm of ELF and EMP...

GnomeToys: I do believe there are some sonic non-lethal weapons in development. Hopefully that never catches on.

I remember hearing about the crossbeam hypersonic sound system...

I'm pretty sure there are, I know you can actually buy kits for weaker versions of the shit the military has been toying with, but those are ultra low frequency and just tend to induce varying amounts of nausea.

Wouldnt this have reprocussions on your health? Supposedly being exposed to bass which makes your bones vibrate is bad for you, I cant imagine this could be any better. Enlighten me.

I doubt we'll know until 20 years from now when it's been in full effect around malls and public areas for awhile and suddenly 75% of the public has brain damage and a baseball sized tumor.

i will invent something stupid in my lifetime and become filthy rich, either that or die trying.

Originally posted by saraday@Apr 26 2005, 02:14 AM

a rolling stone gathers no moss

Quoted post

okay there DEL

Originally posted by suburbian bum@Apr 26 2005, 03:04 AM

Wouldnt this have reprocussions on your health? Supposedly being exposed to bass which makes your bones vibrate is bad for you, I cant imagine this could be any better. Enlighten me.

Quoted post

i know what your saying. but we're exposed to sound waves, light waves,

electric current waves every day of our lives. so if that were the case,

wouldn't we all be crushed and shook to death by now- after all these years

of exposure?

oh, and that article is SO BAD ASS

Originally posted by sarcasm@Apr 26 2005, 02:10 PM

i know what your saying. but we're exposed to sound waves, light waves, electric current waves every day of our lives. so if that were the case, wouldn't we all be crushed and shook to death by now- after all these years of exposure?

Quoted post

ever wonder why the rate of cancer is so high in the first world these days?.......

Wow cool.

^ thats only because the Third World has dibs on AIDS

Originally posted by JohnnyHorton@Apr 26 2005, 03:03 PM

^ thats only because the Third World has dibs on AIDS

Quoted post

we could trade em if you like?

Originally posted by Mr. ABC+Apr 26 2005, 05:05 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mr. ABC - Apr 26 2005, 05:05 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-JohnnyHorton@Apr 26 2005, 03:03 PM

^ thats only because the Third World has dibs on AIDS

Quoted post

we could trade em if you like?

[/b]

if you throw in starvation, you got a deal

and a dozen flies patroling around your face

I want maggots in my eyelids, I won't settle for anything less.

spectacular.

sounds like that nasa brainwave machine i've read about.

see what youre seeing..place thoughts and visuals in your head.. built in the 1940's

your car aint got shit on my airscooter, sucka!!

i thought that air scooter was gonna be scooter sized. dissapointing

i read something about the military developing weapons that emit sound waves at a frequency that can rupture organs